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☆ Comcast Revenue Slips Amid Advertising Slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Patience Haggin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Comcast’s movie studio and Universal Studios theme-park units posted revenue growth in the first quarter. Photo: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty ImagesComcast Corp. said revenue fell by 4.3% in the first quarter, partly due to a sharp decline in advertising, while its Peacock streaming service continued to gain new subscribers at a healthy clip. The Philadelphia-based company, owner of Xfinity-branded broadband and cable services, the NBCUniversal media empire and the Sky TV business, posted revenue of $29.69 billion, while net profit rose by 8% to $3.83 billion.

☆ NBCUniversal insiders are asking what's next after CEO Jeff Shell's 'shocking' exit, and female execs are watching leadership closely after a string of high-profile sexual allegations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

They're asking what Comcast exec Mike Cavanagh's elevation to handle Shell's remit means for NBCU's future. NBCUniversal insiders are reeling after chief Jeff Shell's stunning departure and asking questions about what's next for the Comcast division. News of Shell's hasty exit dropped Sunday after an investigation into what he called an "inappropriate relationship" with a company employee. "It's shocking," said one employee, wondering how an executive at Shell's level would take such a risk with his career. Keeping Cavanagh atop NBCU could serve another purpose — to help bring about a merger of Comcast with Warner Bros.

☆ NBCUniversal faces a set of company-defining decisions as CEO Jeff Shell departs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Shell announced he was departing the company immediately Sunday after admitting to an inappropriate relationship with an NBCUniversal employee. DiscoveryThe elephant in the room with NBCUniversal is the frequent speculation in media circles that a merger with Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Warner Bros.

☆ NBC News poll: Nearly 70% of GOP voters stand behind Trump amid indictment, investigations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Mark Murray | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

And half of those who don't want the 80-year-old Biden to run say the president's age is a "major" reason why. Forty-six percent of Republican primary voters pick Trump as their first choice, while 31% select DeSantis as the 2024 candidate they favor. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has 2%.Meanwhile, DeSantis is the second choice of 33% of GOP primary voters, Trump is the second pick of 20%, and Haley is the second choice of 14%. Yet what also stands out in the poll are the nearly 70% of Republican primary voters who say they stand behind Trump despite the different investigations he's facing. Majorities don't want Biden, Trump to run for president in 2024The NBC News poll also comes just days before Biden's expected announcement for re-election.

Jeff Shell left his role as NBCUniversal CEO on Sunday after he admitted an "inappropriate relationship" with a woman in the comany, corporate parent Comcast announced. The complaint was filed by the woman with whom Shell said he had an "inappropriate relationship," according to people familiar with the matter. Roberts will also get more involved with the NBCUniversal business alongside Cavanagh, the person said. He oversaw the company's theme parks, its Peacock streaming service, sports production operations, television stations group, and entertainment and news television networks like NBC News. Before taking the helm as CEO, Shell was chairman of NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment.

☆ Rockefeller Center Strikes Deal for Luxury Hotel by Aspen Hospitality
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Kate King | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rockefeller Center, like most Midtown Manhattan landlords, has experienced a sharp drop in office workers since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Rockefeller Center is preparing to open its first hotel, the latest sign that Midtown Manhattan’s largest office landlords are leaning into hospitality and entertainment as remote work reduces demand for office space. Aspen Hospitality plans to convert 10 floors of vacant office space above the NBC “Today” show studios into a luxury hotel, pending city approval. The hotel would be the second location for the company’s Little Nell Hotel, which opened in Aspen, Colo., in 1989.

☆ Rockefeller Center Strikes Deal for Luxury Hotel by Aspen Hospitality Group
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Kate King | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Sen. Bill Cassidy says reaction to mifepristone dispute is 'totally alarmist' and insists abortion remains a state's rights issue – even as GOP colleagues call for nationwide limits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy said the concern over mifepristone and the FDA's authority is "totally alarmist." Cassidy said the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision returned decisions on abortion laws back to the states. The Louisiana senator also insisted that decisions on abortion laws had been returned to the states after last year's Supreme Court decision. "I think Dobbs is the uncomfortable middle ground, where people will confront that there is a diversity of opinion. In September, after weeks of arguing that individual states "should decide the issue of abortion," Sen. Lindsey Graham said abortion was "not a states' rights issue" and proposed a national abortion ban that would bar the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

☆ Rapper Coolio died from fentanyl overdose, manager says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Singer Coolio performs before a panel discussion on his new Oxygen Network reality series "Coolio's Rules" at the NBC Universal summer 2008 press tour in Beverly Hills, California July 20, 2008. REUTERS/Fred Prouser/File PhotoLOS ANGELES, April 6 (Reuters) - Grammy-winning rapper Coolio died from a fentanyl overdose, his manager said on Thursday, six months after the musician was found dead at a friend's home in Los Angeles at age 59. Born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., Coolio was best known for his 1995 single "Gangsta's Paradise," from an album of the same name. Coolio's manager, Jarez Posey, said the rapper's family had been informed on Thursday by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office that the singer had died from a fentanyl overdose. Born in Pennsylvania in 1963, Coolio began performing as part of the West Coast hip-hop scene after moving to Compton, California.

☆ 4 crew members who were promised a role in NBC's 'Bel-Air' speak out: 'I left my son for a year for nothing'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Eboni Boykin-Patterson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Four cast and crew members from the "Bel-Air" fan video were told they'd get hired for the TV show. Kerry Rounds, producer: 'I helped the fan trailer go viral and connected Cooper to Will Smith'I'm a film producer and social-media strategist. When the trailer was done and posted, I told Cooper I could call in some favors and get this thing seen. Cooper told me he'd pitched me for an executive role to NBC. When Kerry was still around for the project, things seemed to function more like a professional film set.

☆ The Chinese spy balloon was gathering intel on sensitive US military sites and sending it to Beijing in real-time: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Chinese balloon flying over the US was sending data to Beijing in real-time, NBC News reported. It was collecting mostly electronic signals from military bases, two unnamed US officials told NBC. The officials said the electronic signals collected by the balloon can include communications between base personnel or signals from weapons systems, per NBC News. While moving over some of these military sites, the balloon would sometimes fly in a figure-eight formation, the officials told the outlet. The US previously said it waited to shoot down the balloon because officials believed there was a low threat of it gathering valuable intelligence for Beijing.

☆ Fact Check-Local news station WSMV tweet quoting father of Nashville school shooting victim was fabricated
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A purported tweet by Nashville local news station WSMV supposedly quoting transphobic remarks made by the father of one of the Nashville school shooting victims has been fabricated. The NBC-affiliated television station told Reuters the tweet is fake. “The tweet you are referencing is fake and was never sent or shared by WSMV or any WSMV social media account. On March 27, Reuters reported that a heavily armed 28-year-old fatally shot three children and three adult staffers at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. He said the suspect identified as transgender but provided no further clarity.

MADISON, Wis. — Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly has released his first campaign ad of the general election to fill a vacant Supreme Court seat where the ideological balance of the court is at stake. Protasiewicz has also run ads accusing Kelly of being soft on crime for the work he did as a defense attorney. He's spent $53,000 on the airwaves so far, and has reserved $107,000 worth of additional ad time through April 4 -- Election Day -- per AdImpact, an ad tracking firm. She's reserved an additional $4 million worth of airtime through Election Day. Other outside allies have helped her effort too, and Everytown for Gun Safety just announced a $500,000 ad campaign that includes an ad attacking Kelly on gun rights and abortion.

Trump has said he would stay in the race if he is indicted. Trump, meanwhile, is making a forward-looking pitch to voters, NBC News’ Allan Smith and Jonathan Allen report. And the Washington Post reports Friday that prosecutors investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot have obtained a report commissioned by Trump’s campaign that undercut his falsehoods about the election. Santos mulls re-election: New York GOP Rep. George Santos told the Associated Press he is a “maybe” on running for re-election. Sparks fly in the Windy city: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., endorsed Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson in Chicago’s mayoral race on Thursday.

But a new Quinnipiac University poll of California finds a different issue at the top of voters’ minds in the Golden State: homelessness. According to the survey, 22% of all California voters named homelessness as the state’s most urgent issue — followed by affordable housing at 17%, inflation at 10%, taxes at 9% and crime and climate change tied at 8% each. By party, Democrats said that homelessness (26%) and affordable housing (24%) were their top issues; independents said it was homelessness (23%) and affordable housing (15%); and Republicans said it was immigration (17%), homelessness (14%) and taxes (14%). A separate question in the Quinnipiac poll found 84% of all California voters saying that homelessness is a very serious problem in the state, and 69% said the state was doing too little to help homeless people. The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted Feb. 23-27 of 1,091 registered voters in California, and it has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.0 percentage points.

Persons: Gavin Newsom’s, Biden, Sen, Dianne Feinstein, Alex Padilla Organizations: NBC, Quinnipiac University, Golden, Democrats, California voters Locations: California, Golden State, Quinnipiac

☆ China may 'creep up to the line' of providing Putin with lethal aid as Biden cabinet members warn the country: Do not send support to Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

China may try to send lethal aid to Russia "without getting caught," a source told NBC News. Blinken warned "about the implications" of sending lethal aid, the State Department said. The New York Times reported Blinken also said during the "Meet the Press" interview that the US will soon reveal information showing Beijing is strongly considering sending lethal aid. US officials believe China may have sent tangible support to Russia in the form of non-lethal military aid, according to the NBC News report. "We cannot prevent users or organizations from purchasing in countries or regions other than Russia and Ukraine, and then transship or gift them to Russia and Ukraine," the company told the newspaper.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News' Andrea Mitchell, Vice President Kamala Harris said she fully expects President Biden to run for re-election and said she intends to be his running mate again. Asked about Democrats who fret behind the scenes about both Biden and Harris being on the ticket, the vice president responded: "Joe Biden ... has said he intends to run for re-election as president and I intend to run with him as vice president of the United States." In the interview, conducted at the international Munich Security Conference in Germany, Harris was asked about comments made by former U.N. "In Joe Biden, we have a president who is probably one of the boldest and strongest American presidents we have had in his response to the needs of the American people," Harris continued. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who is widely expected to run for president in 2024.

Governors gathered in the nation’s capital in recent days for the National Governors Association winter meeting. And while they were focused on their jobs at hand, questions about the 2024 presidential race were unavoidable. Asked on Saturday if she would like to see Biden run again, Michigan Gov. At a Democratic Governors Association press conference on Thursday, a group of 11 governors echoed support for Biden’s potential re-election campaign. Spencer Cox also joined “Meet” and weighed in on the presidential race, saying he would like to see his party nominate a governor.

Ron DeSantis lead an early — and still incomplete — Republican presidential field, according to a new national Monmouth University poll released Thursday. Asked whom they’d like to see as the GOP’s presidential nominee, 33% of Republican voters answered Trump and another 33% picked DeSantis. But the contest is closer among respondents who identify as strong Republicans (DeSantis 49%, Trump 46%) and among evangelical Republicans (DeSantis 51%, Trump 44%). The worst favorable/unfavorable ratings among Republican voters were for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (23%-53%) and embattled freshman Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., (12%-42%). The Monmouth University poll was conducted Jan. 26 to Feb. 2 of 566 registered Republican voters, and it has a margin of error of plus-minus 6.1 percentage points.

As President Joe Biden readies to deliver his State of the Union address, here's a look at how Americans rated him in the latest NBC News poll, released late last month. Biden's approval rating is 45%, effectively unchanged since Nov.Biden's approval rating has stayed durable across NBC's polling since September, at either 44% or 45% (that includes a mix of polls of registered voters and a broader sample of adults). That's a significant improvement from the 39% approval adults gave him in May, but still far lower than the 53% approval rating he secured in April of 2021. Notably, 50% of adults disapproved of Biden in the most recent NBC poll, the lowest since August of 2021. Majority of voters have reservations about Biden running againLike the man he beat in the 2020 presidential race, former President Donald Trump, a majority of registered voters are uncomfortable with Biden running for president again.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. U.S. President Joe Biden will face a divided Congress and stubbornly high inflation when he delivers the annual State of the Union address later Tuesday night. Despite record job growth and new data indicating that inflation is slowing, Americans remain deeply pessimistic about the state of the economy. Biden will address the U.S.-China relationship in the speech, but he will not announce new retaliatory actions against Beijing over the balloon, White House aides told NBC News. Following Biden's address, Arkansas Republican Gov.

Seventy-five percent of Americans say strengthening the economy should be the top policy priority for President Joe Biden and Congress to address this year, according to a new Pew Research Center poll, higher than any other priority the survey tested. At the bottom of the list of 21 different policy priorities is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, with just 26% of respondents saying Biden and Congress should address it this year — a drop from 2021 and 2022, when it was near the top in the poll. The Pew survey comes ahead of Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, and it shows broad agreement that strengthening the economy should be priority, with 84% of Republicans and 68% of Democrat saying it should be. But there’s disagreement on dealing with immigration (70% of Republicans said it should be a priority, versus 37% of Democrats), on dealing with climate change (59% of Democrats vs. 13% of Republicans) and on addressing issues around race (49% of Democrats vs. 13% of Republicans). The online Pew poll was conducted Jan. 18-24 of 5,152 adults, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 1.7 percentage points.

Fifty-five percent of adults share that sentiment, while 31% of adults believe the GOP will strike the right balance and 11% say the GOP won't spend enough time on investigating Biden. Majorities of independents and Democrats believe the GOP will spend too much time on investigations into Biden, while a majority of Republicans believe they'll spend too little time. It is also the most popular investigation for Republicans (52%) and independents (30%), but tied for the least important investigation among Democrats, of which only 9% call it the most important investigation. Eleven percent say the GOP won’t spend enough time on investigating Biden. The second-most popular investigation is one into the Department of Homeland Security's handling of the border with Mexico, the selection of 27% of respondents.

☆ Amazon told lawmakers it wouldn't build storm shelters in warehouses after fatal collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon said it won't build storm shelters in its warehouses after a tornado ripped through one of its Illinois facilities more than a year ago, killing six workers. OSHA guidelines say that basements, storm cellars or small interior rooms provide the best protection from a tornado. Amazon previously said it followed federal guidance to tell employees to take shelter immediately after there was a tornado warning. The families of two employees killed in the building collapse have filed wrongful death lawsuits against Amazon and the companies that built the warehouse. Reconstruction of the Edwardsville warehouse began in June, according to KSDK, the NBC affiliate in St. Louis, Missouri.

☆ $100 repair bill sparked Half Moon Bay shooting, prosecutor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

SAN FRANCISCO — A farmworker charged with killing seven people at two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms reportedly told investigators he was spurred to carry out the shootings after his supervisor demanded he pay $100 to repair a forklift damaged at work. KNTV-TV, the NBC affiliate in the San Francisco Bay Area, was first to report the development. Zhao told KNTV-TV in a courthouse interview Thursday that he committed the shootings. He said he has a 40-year-old daughter in China and lived with his wife in Half Moon Bay. The coroner’s office has named six of the victims: Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Beach, California; Aixiang Zhang, 74, of San Francisco; Qizhong Cheng, 66, of Half Moon Bay; Jingzhi Lu, 64, of Half Moon Bay; and Yetao Bing, 43, whose hometown was unknown.

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